Hurricane Florence and Carolina Golf

Experience in Hurricanes

As a product of Tennessee, with stops in such non-hurricane bastions as Michigan, Kansas City, and Atlanta, my experience with hurricanes is basically two-fold. Many years ago, in the mid-1990’s, I had as a goal to run the 25th Anniversary of the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta, one of the most famous and popular 10K races in the U.S. (Registration is capped at 50,000 runners and is maxed out in a matter of minutes once it opens).

I was a little concerned about the race because, a) I’m not a runner- not even close; and b) the Peachtree is held on the morning of July 4th. July 4th in Atlanta is not ideal running weather, I don’t care if it starts at 3:30 a.m.

What does this have to do with hurricanes? That particular year, a hurricane had just hit the panhandle of Florida, and Atlanta was feeling the affects. It was breezy, overcast, and in short, was about as nice a day for an Independence Day run as I could have hoped for.

Experience Number Two

I was in Miami for a national conference in September, 1998. That same time, Hurricane Georges came crashing through the Caribbean, and was forecast to hit the Florida Keys and then Miami. Two days after arriving in Miami, the conference was cancelled, the Miami Convention Center was dedicated a hurricane shelter, and 5000 people tried to get the hell out of Dodge before it hit.

I made it home in good shape, Georges shifted course and didn’t hit Miami (although it did come ashore in the panhandle), and I had my second hurricane experience.

Number Three

And then we had Hurricane Florence. Living in Charlotte, we are a lot closer to the coast than anywhere I’ve lived before. We are over 200 miles west of Wilmington, where most of the damage occurred, but we had two solid days of rain- 48 hours non-stop. Thankfully, it wasn’t a hard, driving rain, so flooding in Charlotte was significant but not devastating. But it’s closer to experiencing a hurricane than anything I’ve experienced so far, and to be honest, it’s as close as I want to get.

And As For Golf…

I’ve checked with the three courses that are close to the house and that I typically play. All three are open for play, have little damage, and I’m sure are counting their blessings just as we all are in this part of the city. Rocky River Golf Club, The Tradition Golf Club, and Cabarrus Country Club have all announced they are open. Pinehurst Resort also announced that all courses would be open as of Wednesday, September 19th. Scotch Hall Preserve, where we have a weekend trip planned in a couple of weeks, and is on the North Carolina Coast on Albemarle sound, is also open with all properties relatively undamaged as of September 19th.

In other words, as bad as it was, it could have been a lot, lot worse.

Enjoy your fall golf, wherever you are. Give thanks to the first responders and all who do all the little things to make a tough situation a little better (such as my wife who rounded up a bunch of stuffed animals here in the house and took to a rec center that was serving as an emergency shelter for the kids to have something to play with). There are thousands of examples of people doing the right thing, juxtaposed with the looters breaking into a Dollar Store in Wilmington.